Buddhists Irked by Buddha on Toilets and as Disney's Dog

Buddhists Irked by Buddha on Toilets and as
Disney's Dog

A Buddhist group says it successfully
convinced a French factory to stop printing Buddha's face on
toilets, but failed in a lengthy campaign to censor a Walt
Disney movie series featuring a dog named Buddha.

The
Bangkok-based group, Knowing Buddha, also
targets the "disrespectful" use of Buddha's face or iconic
appearance on dildos and other sex toys, clothing, tattoos,
furniture, statues and souvenirs.

"No progress on Disney,
they have not responded at all," said Acharavadee Wongsakon,
the Thai founder of Knowing Buddha, referring to the
"Buddies" movies.

"Also, the U.S. Embassy has not been
helpful," she said in an interview.

"It is pathetic. We
have been trying to push the [Thai] government to arrange a
seminar for government bureaus, including tourism and
hotels, to show the serious problem that is happening, and
to address a solution. Our effort is fruitless."

Mrs.
Acharavadee launched the anti-Disney campaign in June when
she led 200 supporters on a "Stop Disrespecting Buddha"
protest march through Bangkok's tourist-packed Khao San Road
and other markets which sell clothes, home decor and
souvenirs portraying Buddha.

"This case came to us, by
one of our supporters, on January 22. At that time, we were
running a campaign on portable public toilets in the
Netherlands which had the Buddha image painted on the
outside of those toilet booths," she said.

"The Buddha
image in the toilet is a hard hit to Buddhists."

She wrote
to the French Embassy in Bangkok and the Thai Embassy in
Paris.

"On February 18, we received a reply back from the
French ambassador showing their concern, and they indicated
that they already contacted the hotel in France," she
said.

"We wrote a letter to the hotel Moulin de Broaille
which displayed the toilet seat in their hotel. We then
searched who is the manufacturer of the product, and we
wrote to them, asking them to stop and explained why this is
not appropriate and is disrespectful to Buddha. That company
is called OLFA from France."

On Thursday (April 11),
however, the "Buddha" toilet seat, adorned with Buddha's
face, was still on the manufacturer's website, which boasts:
"On the toilet seat market, OLFA
is the major specialist."

The hotel's website displayed
the toilet while illustrating a "Little Buddha" theme of
"pure Zen" which guests could enjoy.

"When we say
'success' we mean we received the apologetic letter from the
manufacturer, and that they would not produce it anymore.
This is a success," Mrs. Acharavadee said.

"We do realize
that the hotel has not removed this product, forcing us to
continue working on this case."

She also continues her
campaign against Disney's dog named Buddha in the "Buddies"
movies, but acknowledges that is a much bigger fight.

Disney's
Buddha dog is aimed toward children and, according to
the movie's website, exhibits Buddhist stereotypes.

For
example, the dog practices yoga and meditation, but avoids
meat and stress.

The friendly puppy also eats dog food
from a dish emblazoned with the word "Buddha."

When Mrs.
Acharavadee's daughters innocently downloaded the film from
iTunes last year, she was shocked to see Buddha the dog as a
main character.

The dogs are five "Buddies" named Budderball,
RoseBud, B-Dawg, MudBud and Buddha.

"We would like to ask
the Buddhists around the world to boycott the 'Buddies'
movies," Mrs. Acharavadee said last year.

She launched her
campaign so Disney would "stop using that name Buddha for a
dog. No need to cancel the series, just remove that
character, or change the name."

Disney's online "Corporate
Citizenship" statement promises to "act and create in an
ethical manner, and consider the consequences of our
decisions on people and the planet."

When asked about its
Buddha dog and the anti-Disney protest last year, the
company replied by email:

"Hi. Thank you for contacting
us. You have reached Disney Corporate Citizenship.
Unfortunately, we are unable to assist you with your
inquiry. Regards, Eric, Corporate Citizenship, The Walt
Disney Company."

Repeated e-mails to Disney's other media
address resulted in no response.

Knowing Buddha is
comprised of 35 team members plus 7,000 supporters, she
said, and it protests receive a mixed response from the
public.

Random posts online discussing the protests
include critics who say Buddha would not have supported the
censoring of people who use his face or image for
disrespectful or commercial purposes.

Instead, Buddhism
teaches followers to ignore "illusions" of the material
world, and not get caught up in battling other people's
actions.

Followers should control their own minds, and
focus on abandoning the concept of being an individual
self.

More than 2,500 years ago, when the most recent
"incarnation" of Buddha lived, he was a former Hindu prince
named Siddhartha Gautama, born in Lumpini, which today is in
southern Nepal.

The Knowing Buddha group, meanwhile,
pointed to dildos, clothing, and other commercial products
using Buddha's image, and listed their websites which
include:

• An 8-inch-long, "Buddha's Delight" silicone
dildo on sale for $59 from Oakland, California.Its
website says: "After a thousand years of praying, fasting
and endless incarnations, Buddha finally gets to be a dildo.
To Buddha's unending delight, he's generously endowed with
enough to pleasure even the most enlightened. Now that
Nirvana is within reach, grasp it wisely, firmly, and with
intent, rub his belly. Rub it again,
meditatively."

• Popcorn Buddha in Pennsylvania."The
enlightened snack. A moment of bliss in every
kernel."

Richard S. Ehrlich is a Bangkok-based
journalist from San Francisco, California, reporting news
from Asia since 1978, and recipient of Columbia University's
Foreign Correspondent's Award. He is a co-author of three
non-fiction books about Thailand, including "Hello My Big
Big Honey!" Love Letters to Bangkok Bar Girls and Their
Revealing Interviews; 60 Stories of Royal Lineage; and
Chronicle of Thailand: Headline News Since 1946. Mr. Ehrlich
also contributed to the final chapter, Ceremonies and
Regalia, in a new book titled King Bhumibol Adulyadej, A
Life's Work: Thailand's Monarchy in Perspective.

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